“The toughest enemy in this game? Well, try to break a door secured with a masterful adamantium lock.”

Eschalon: Book 2 is a well-made turn-based RPG experience with great love for detail. Compared with its predecessor the combat mechanics were improved by adding a couple tactical options and increasing the general game speed. In addition the game difficulty can be adjusted to satisfy the needs of the hardcore gamers among us.

Fun fact: Like the first game, the game's development was largely kept secret; the developers of the Eschalon series believe that most game developers release too much information about their products, spoiling the game when you eventually play it.--

My rating system consists of six categories in descending order of importance:

If the S-Rank is awarded, a quote from the game or personal comment will be added as a token of my respect (in brackets).--

Atmosphere: A-Rank

Characters: A-Rank

Details: S-Rank

(This is easily one of the heaviest, and thickest books you have ever seen. From its size and heft, you surmise that it could easily serve as the anchor to a large ship, or perhaps as the cornerstone of a castle. The cover could likely take a blow from an axe and survive, and even the pages seem unnaturally thick and sturdy. It is a book that could last the toughest of ages; from the numerous adorning bloodstains, it has certainly seen a fair amount of use…)

Tactical gameplay: B-Rank

Story: B-Rank

Combat & Controls: A-Rank --

While there are no achievements to conquer, a very useful guide can be found on the link below.

This is a great rpg and great series, if you enjoy turn based RPG give this a try its alot of fun

CONS: Game mechanics promote not using your levelup points until after you've bought skills, not a fan of power game favoritism, if you don't mind this aspect its easily a 9 rating

My reviews are always based on the following-I only play hard or impossible-I don't save/load scum, live with mistakes -I don't use 3rd party cheat tools-I don't play multiplayer and am reviewing singleplayer aspects unless otherwise noted

Eschalon: Book 2 is a sequel to Book 1 and therefore similar in everything it does. There are minor improvements, like faster walking, higher resolution, more skills... but nothing of great importance. Eschalon is a turn-based role-playing game series with astounding graphics and sound. Unfortunately gameplay is a bit slow, even for an ultima-like game. Doing almost anything in this game is fun but one thing: Walking. And there's a lot of walking. Walking through forests, walking through beaches, walking through deserts... and even more walking. The game has interesting dungeons and towns, filled with many secrets and details, unfortunately other locations are there just to be walked through. That is why I would rate this game as decent: It's a very enjoyable RPG, except for tedious walking through wilderness.

I got this on sale for $5, and after playing it for over a dozen hours, I'm already thinking it's one of the best "indie" computer RPG's. It's like the older Elder Scrolls games, but with Ultima-style graphics and interface. It has a freely explorable world that is viewed in a 3rd person, top-down perspective. Resolution is limited to 1024x768. But I actually dig the graphics and interface. What I dig even more is how *challenging* this RPG is, and how you can build and play your character in very different ways to deal with those challenges. It's not an action RPG, like Diablo; it's more of a thinking man's RPG, like Elder Scrolls. (Eventhough a big part of that challenge can be a pain, dealing with darkness and thirst/hunger and equipment wear/breakage.) Combat is a tactical blend of turn-based and real-time. Keeping your character alive can be hard, especially if you're not paying attention and if you're not putting enough thought into how you build and play your character.